Heaton: I don't gamble with my life

Michelle Heaton has said messages of support have helped her with her decision to undergo a full hysterectomy.

The former Liberty X singer and mother-of-two is having the operation this autumn.

Michelle had a double mastectomy late last year after she was diagnosed with a mutated BRCA2 gene, which meant she had an 80 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and a 30 per cent chance of ovarian cancer.

She told ITV's Lorraine: "It's just getting your head around willingly putting yourself through such a major operation... At 35, putting myself through that is primarily for my family and I'm doing it because I don't want to get ovarian cancer, I want to be there for my kids.

"It's just really hard to elect to do that and I've had so many positive responses on Twitter and so many women going through exactly the same thing.

"I really want more people to get in touch with me because I find it therapeutic. Everyone who's been in touch, it's helping me through it."

Michelle said that she was "so fortunate" to already have two children but said that it was still "a very tough decision" knowing that she would have no more and that she would go through early menopause.

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"It's not as easy as just saying 'I've got two children, let's get rid of it.' You don't know how you're going to feel in five years time," she said.

But Michelle added: "I don't gamble with my life and I don't think other people should."

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